Valentine Fired by Red Sox After One Trying Season

After his final game as Red Sox manager, Bobby Valentine spoke softly, his red eyes cast down toward the desk in the visiting manager’s office in Yankee Stadium. The normally boisterous Valentine offered only clipped and vacant responses.

Boston concluded the team’s worst season in over a generation. In one tumultuous, injury-riddled year at the helm, Valentine won 69 games, the lowest total in a full season for the Red Sox since the 1965 team was 62-100.

The team announced that Cherington, whose inclination last year to hire Dale Sveum was vetoed by the team president Larry Lucchino, would lead the search for a replacement. Toronto Manager John Farrell, the Tampa Bay bench coach Dave Martinez and the former Red Sox player Mike Lowell are among those expected to be considered.

Photo

Bobby Valentine lasted just one season as Boston's manager.Credit
Jim Mone/Associated Press

Valentine took over a team that had imploded in 2011 with a September collapse so devastating it cost Terry Francona his job, though Francona had won two World Series as Boston’s manager. This season the Red Sox used 56 players, the most in club history. By the end of the season the roster had the composition of a minor league club.

The final indignity was a 14-2 loss to the Yankees in the season finale Wednesday, the team’s eighth consecutive loss.

“Difficult as it is to judge a manager amid a season that had an epidemic of injuries, we feel we need to make changes,” said Lucchino, who was behind the hiring of Valentine. “Bobby leaves the Red Sox manager’s office with our respect, gratitude and affection. I have no doubt that he will continue to contribute to the game he loves so much and knows so well.”

Valentine, 62, met with the team’s owners Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox’ announcement included a statement from Valentine.

“I understand this decision,” he said. “This year in Boston has been an incredible experience for me, but I am as disappointed in the results as are ownership and the great fans of Red Sox Nation. It was a privilege to be part of the 100-year anniversary of Fenway Park and an honor to be in uniform with such great players and coaches. My best to the organization. I’m sure next year will be a turnaround year.”

Valentine’s brief tenure was marked by confrontations with members of his coaching staff, including the bench coach, Tim Bogar, and the pitching coach, Bob McClure, and key players. In a television interview in April, Valentine questioned Kevin Youkilis’s physical and emotional commitment to the game, and although he apologized, the effects lingered until well after Youkilis was traded to the Chicago White Sox on June 24. The Red Sox also traded Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a salary dump on Aug. 25.

Despite the injuries, the Red Sox were 53-51 on July 31, and only three and a half games out of the wild-card race two weeks after losing David Ortiz to an Achilles’ injury. Ortiz played one more game, and Boston was 16-42 with a patchwork roster to end the season as flare-ups involving Valentine, his coaches and a few players became the focus.

Valentine has also managed the Texas Rangers, the Mets and the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. His managing record in 16 major league seasons is 1,185-1,165, a .504 winning percentage.

Asked on Wednesday night if the 2012 season had been the most difficult of his career, he said: “It was trying. I don’t know how it could be more challenging than this season.”

Correction: October 4, 2012

An earlier version of a headline for this article on the home page of NYTimes.com misstated Bobby Valentine’s role with the Red Sox. He was manager, not coach.

A version of this article appears in print on October 5, 2012, on page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Red Sox Fire Valentine After One Trying Season. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe